We're Both Ghosts
by Xovers Galore
Summary: Gift for a friend "The hedgeleon kept staring at him. Why? Why after two minutes of conversation with her did he want to take her with him? But the bigger question was... Did she really want to leave? It shouldn't have been a question. She was experimented on, treated unfairly, abused even. She should want to leave as soon as possible... right?"


_This is for my friend Artemis the Rebel, AKA Artie the best roleplayer ever! XD_

 _I don't know much about Mirage's past, since you didn't add that much to the story you wrote about her and Shadow, so I'm sorry if this has inconsistencies with your story. I just thought of this randomly and now I need to write it so it stops bugging me. jk. xD_

The hedgeleon sat in the corner of her "room," cowering and trembling with her hands over her head. Loud noises came from a couple of hallways away, along with shouting and gunshots. It had been nearly unnoticable at first, but whatever was happening was getting closer and closer with every minute.

Soldiers sprinted past the opening of her living space for what seemed like the millionth time in the past... hour or so? She couldn't tell time in there, but it was a little while past her last meal, which were about 5 hours apart each. The girl shrunk back farther in the corner, her scales rippling into a terrified ghost white. _What's going on? Why is there fighting?_ Her face paled suddenly, almost as white as her scales. _Is... is something wrong with Shadow?_

The older hedgehog was kept in the facility for the same reason as her - to be expiremented on, to be used as a weapon. He was extremely powerful, and if something had happened during the expirimentation this time...

She swallowed hard. She didn't want to think about it.

Mirage looked up as an eerie feeling crawled down her sppine, like a prescense was there, like someone was ... staring at her. Grey blotches began to appear with the white, signaling her confusion as she looked around. No one was there, though.

So why did she have this feeling that someone was watching her?

Then a noise made her ears prick, the sound of feet shuffling. She stared at the entrance to her cage, eyes widening as a purple figure slowly materialized in front of the bars that separated them.

It was a chameleon.

He stared at her with golden eyes, silent for a while. She kept watching him, her fear slowly subsiding. She didn't know why, but she felt more at ease, even though he was an intruder and actually possibly here to capture her, to use her for her abilities.

Okay, maybe a little less at ease than before now.

He spoke. "What's a kid like you doing in a place like this?" His voice was soft but serious, in a tone that kind of reminded her of Shadow.

"W-What do you mean..?" She answered, eyes still round. "Who are you? Are you here to take me?"

He put up his hands. "One question at a time..." He looked around, making sure no one else was there, before turning back to face her. "We're here to recover some information from G.U.N. They have intel on an old teammate of ours that we need..."

"Ours? T-There's more of you?"

"Yes, but we aren't here to do anything to you, like I said. All that commotion out there is just some opposition we met on the way to where we need to be." He continued to stare at her, which made her a bit unnerved. Her pink scales paled a little.

"Why did you come to see me, then...?"

The chameleon sighed. "I was running around looking for the room we needed, a computer room, I guess is the best description." He winced, as if something particularly annoying was attached to that statement.

It was the girl's turn to stare at the chameleon. The others were a distraction so that he wouldn't meet any unexpected enemies while he went around...invisible.

"You're like me," She said softly, still staring at him.

He watched her, eyes softening. "Yes... although a few features of yours tell me you aren't fully chameleon."

"I'm part hedgehog, but... yeah." She nodded softly.

"What's your name?" He asked.

She paused. She hadn't told anyone her name, only Shadow, and the soldiers just numbered her. Would she tell this stranger, an intruder no less, something so close to her...?

She watched him wait, hugging her knees to her chest as she contemplated.

The two were silent for a short amount of time, before the other chameleon shifted. "Well, I'm Espio." The purple reptile said, offering a hand before realizing she couldn't take it and drew back. "Look... I need to get going." A look of deep thought covered his face, and his fingers twitched as he he clenched his fists. The girl sighed.

"Come with me."

She looked back up at him in shock, scales bright yellow. "W-What?"

"You're kept prisoner here, so I know you aren't like the rest of the soldiers. I can take you back, and me and the rest of my team can... well, we can take care of you, need be. They would have no problem with it, and as long as you follow me in here you won't get caught. You'll never have a problem with these guys again..."

The hedgeleon kept staring at him. Why? Why after two minutes of conversation with her did he want to take her with him? But the bigger question was... Did she really want to leave? It shouldn't have been a question. She was expiremented on, treated unfairly, abused even. She should want to leave as soon as possible... right?

So why did she feel like something was tugging at the back of her-

 _Shadow._

It hit her like a splash of cold water to the face. She had completely forgotten about him. He would be left all alone, with no one to comfort him, to help him... She bit her lip.

"I can't," She said softly, and Espio looked shocked. He opened his mouth to speak, but she interuppted him. "I-I certainly appreciate the offer... it sounds too good to be true, b-but - I have a f-friend here, and I c-can't leave him... I-I know you're in a hurry, and y-you probably wouldn't be able to take the t-time to find him too, so... I can't..."

Espio gazed at her with an added level of respect and sympathy. "You're sure?" He asked softly, and the girl nodded. He sighed. "Well, I'm not going to take you against your will, so... I suppose this is goodbye."

She nodded softly. Though she barely knew Espio, she already felt attached to him, for whatever reason... maybe because he was one of the only people who was ever nice to her.

"Mirage."

He looked at her with surprise.

"It's Mirage," She said softly, and offered a tiny smile. "Thank you... for offering to hel me."

Espio smiled tentatively back. "Well, Mirage... Good luck," he said softly, voice warm as he began to dissipate. "I hope you get out of here with your friend someday..."

Mirage smiled more genuinely. "Me too," She said to thin air softly, and sat back.

Mirage walked beside Rouge, arms wrapped around herself as she looked up at her caretaker. "Where are we going," She asked her. She didn't like the idea of leaving the bat for a long period of time, especially when she was staying with people she didn't know.

Rouge looked down at her with a soft smile. "It's a couple of friends of mine. Don't worry... you might recognize a couple of them." Mirage perked slowly at this, ears twitching in confusion. She asked what Rouge meant by that, but the bat didn't answer any more questions.

After a while they came upon a small house. Rouge knocked at the front door, and it was opened by a looming figure, a big crocodile with a mouth full of teeth. Mirage hid behind the bat.

"Hello, Vector," Rouge smirked, hands on her hips. "Nice to see you again."

"Rouge, you're here!" Vector said with a toothy grin. "Took ya long enough!"

After a minute or two of conversation, Rouge was kindly let in, leading Mirage by a hand. Mirage looked around. The house was as small on the inside as it looked on the outside, perhaps even smaller with how messy it was. Clothes were strewn all over, along with empty pizza boxes and milk cartons.

Rouge glared at the crocodile. "I thought you said you'd clean up."

"Heh heh," Vector chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I promise we'll get it taken care of, ASAP." He paused a second, then yelled, "Charmy, Espio, get in here!"

Mirage perked at the familiar name. "Wait, did he say-"

Before she got the chance to answer, a bee flew in, chuckling and rubbing his hands together. He paused when he took in the scene, perking. "Oh," He said. "Um... nothing's wrong, Vector?"

The crocodile narrowed his eyes. "Should there be?"

The bee grinned nervously. "Um... no... but you might not wanna take a drink out of your cup again..."

Vector growled, and began to say something when a purple chameleon walked in. "Honestly, Charmy, can you even go a day without-" He paused, eyes widening as he spotted the pair.

Mirage perked. "Espio-?!"

"Mirage," he said, blinking in surprise. "You - what- you're out?" He finally stammered, walking up to her.

She nodded, slowly loosening her grip on Rouge. "Yeah... she helped me get out," She said softly, smiling over at her companion softly.

Espio looked at Rouge questioningly, and the bat shrugged her shoulders, not missing a beat. "Hey, the kid's friends with Shadow, and I've kinda taken a liking to her myself. He is... a little... occupied at the moment, and by her accounts of what happened during your little break in, I figured it wouldn't hurt for you two to get to know each other."

Mirage looked at Espio with a soft smile. "It's a surprise for me too," She reassured him, ripples of rainbow piercing her scales.

Espio folded his arms, unable to not smile at the sight. "Well then, I'll be happy to have you here, Mirage. I hope you enjoy your time.""

Two seconds later, Vector roared in anger, having taken a very bitter sip of his soda pop. " _ **CHARMY, WHY IS THERE GRASS IN MY SODA?!**_ " As if on cue, the bee flew off, laughing loudly (and rather obnoxiously), the crocodile in full pursuit.

Rouge's ears perked in probably the most expressive sign of happy surprise she would ever show, because Mirage had giggled.

Espio smiled.


End file.
